


Team ATMC book 2: the Sons of Merlot

by Reaper_the_Phantom_Thief



Series: Team ATMC [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Aidan Verde, Angel Neko, Bitter Merlot, Chris Kaen, Crimson Blade, Devon Akuma, Jade Quartz, Makayla Verde, Masters von Shang, Shade Academy (RWBY), Sour Merlot, Tyler Verde, Vacuo (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:40:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reaper_the_Phantom_Thief/pseuds/Reaper_the_Phantom_Thief
Summary: A sequel to Team ATMC but from here on out its my own fan made adventure instead of an insertion into the canon story and a blast from the past to Grimm Eclipse
Series: Team ATMC [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092569





	1. Crimson Blade

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

It's been some time since the fall of Beacon, it's almost been a week since our visit with Yang in Patch. Today I'm on another solo mission in a abandoned village, completely destroyed, a majority of the people evacuated, a good portion of the people dead, but every other Huntsmen that tried coming to this have noticed that given the buildings condition they weren't destroyed by Grimm, but something more human. I got ahold of this info and decided to look into it myself because if it's a person then maybe they know Cinder Fall. I walked through the village for about five minutes until I stopped at a statue of what I'm guessing was the towns founder, when I stopped at it I started reminiscing about the old Beacon days, the days when we were still with Teams RWBY and JNPR, when Pyrrha was still alive, and then I remembered Cinders speech...

Cinder: "This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither. Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?" Immediately when she says that my flash back cuts off when I hear a strange bell like noise and turnaround to look.

Aidan: "What's that sound?" I look away from the statue and then look towards the statue again and to my surprise I see a strange red flaming orb floating in the air and it burst into flames knocking me back some and when the flames cleared a human like figure stood there. It was some kind of robot painted black with some parts glowing red, including a capital M like symbol on its chest. It proceeded to draw its weapon: a set of light saber like daggers holding them back handed in the same way I do. Right there I'm just thinking 'This guy killed all these people!' "You bastard!" That's when I snap and draw my Twin Blades. I run towards him and swing my blade but he blocks, I step back when we break, I then proceeded to continue a large barrage of attacks very quickly but he was clearly faster because he blocked every single one of my strikes, eventually when I put one final strike I step back and draw my Broadsword, I charge towards him and bring down my sword but he blocked with one blade after a while he used his other blade to hit me and knock me back far to where I was lying on my stomach. As I was getting up he was walking towards me, putting his blades away. "D-Damn! What the hell... what the hell are you!?" He just stood there and stared. "This guy killed these people! It's not over yet!" I then draw the Scythe and brought it down but he grabbed the handle mid swing and gripped it really tight to where the whole thing shattered in little pieces, both blade and handle, he then grabbed me by the face and fired a blast of energy which knocked me back even more but I kept my footing. He then proceeded to extend out his right arm and then his wrist starts glowing green, blue, red and orange and then he fired an orange beam at me which hurt like a son of a bitch and once it was over he's just standing there and eventually my Aura started glowing orange instead of its natural light green, my Aura then shatters off like glass, at that point I'm on my back and just before I pass out I see a human figure at the town entrance, it's kinda blurry but it's looks like... my old teacher from Signal, Masters von Shang, but he's supposed to be helping the other local Huntsmen with clearing Beacon. Well I guess I can take any help I can get right now... but what the heck was that all about? What was that robot? Who could've made something like that? And what about that strange beam he fired? I did notice that his wrist glowed four colors but only fired one, does each color do something different? If that's so, then what does orange do? Most likely something to do with my Aura as it did glow orange and shattered but what exactly happened to it? So many questions and so little time to rest with that thing out there bringing chaos. But there is one other thing that concerns me but it doesn't feel concerning... that M symbol on its chest, who's symbol is that? Why does it keep nagging at me? I can't help but feel that symbol is our best way to find the answers we need.


	2. The Merlot Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

I wake up in the school infirmary, never thought I'd be in here, to be greeted by my friends/teammates along with Shade's Headmaster, Professor Jade Quartz(unofficial fan name since the actual show hasn't done anything with Vacuo yet).

Aidan: "Hey guys, man I've had the worst day!"

Chris: "I'll say... you've been out for 5 hours."

Jade: "Not only that but we seem to have a problem. Aidan... these scanners for your condition say that your Aura and Semblance are... inactive." That just left a shocked expression on all of us. "It's as if you never learned how to engage your Aura and have never unlocked your Semblance."

Tyler: "But how can that be?!"

Aidan: "I think I have an idea... I fought a strange robot and at the end of it he hit me with a strange beam... it was strange because his wrist glowed 4 colors: green, blue, red and orange, and he hit me with an orange beam and it made my Aura glow orange and it shattered like glass which is what knocked me out. My guess is that each of those 4 colors on his wrist all do something different, so the question is... what exactly does orange do? And what do the other colors do for that matter?"

Makayla: "Hell if I know... there are tons of possibilities."

Jade: "Perhaps the key lies in figuring out the robots master... after all robots aren't made from thin air. Aidan... was there anything noticeable about it that could help?" I stayed quiet for a moment with my index and thumb on my chin trying to remember... but then it hit me.

Aidan: "Actually... yes. Let me see that clipboard." She handed me the clipboard on the monitor table and it had a pencil. I then proceeded to draw that M symbol on its chest because it's been nagging at me this whole time. "Here. That's the symbol that was on its chest. Do you know what it means?" As I hand her the clipboard, she took a look for a moment but then she made a shocked expression.

Jade: "Yes I do. It's the symbol of a former Atlas scientist know only as Dr. Merlot, the only other thing I know about him is that he was a major part in the fall of Mt. Glenn, I don't know anything else about it. Since Mt. Glenn was a Vale issue, Ozpin was the one assigned the Mr. Glenn case... including the information on Merlot. He would know more about this, but unfortunately... he's gone now."

Chris: "Wait... 'Merlot'... I think I've heard that name before."

Makayla: "Yeah your right... I remember that Teams RWBY and JNPR together were handling a mission involving that name."

Tyler: "Then maybe we can go find and ask one of them?"

Aidan: "Yeah... and there's only one person of those teams that will be the easiest to get to."

Jade: "Then just say the word and you'll have a ship to the place!"

Aidan: "Professor... we'll need a ship to island of Patch again!" We then cut to a strange dark lab looking place with only 2 people wearing lab coats... Yes this is a meanwhile scene and yes these 2 lab coat dudes are the bad guys.

? 1: "It looks like our creation was even able to take down the legendary Turnabout Terror! Isn't that impressive brother?"

? 2: "Yes brother. Crimson Blade has done well thanks to our successful Dust creation."

? 1: "Yes. We shall continue fathers wish of using mutated Grimm. It's also a good thing that not all of his technology was destroyed in that explosion. With this we shall continue his dream but also do our own handy work."

? 2: "Yes. And what a success the device was, a device that allows us to take any kind of Dust, for example: fire, and switch its element for something else that there is no such Dust! And we've certainly picked the best replacement for Dust abilities."

? 1: "Indeed. The ability of time, with 4 unique abilities: green being the ability to move time forward, blue being to slow time down, red being able to stop time, and orange being able to reverse time. However since the Turnabout Terror is a Huntsmen he has an Aura, his Aura was able to off set the Time Dust reversal abilities. All it managed to do was reverse his Aura and Semblance to where it's like he never learned to engaged his Aura and never unlocked his Semblance, he is still the same age as before. His Aura he'll recover quickly but his Semblance will take a while."

? 2: "At least we now know it works, shall I call back Crimson Blade?"

? 1: "Yes, it's time that we experiment what will happen if we combine all 4 of the Time Dust powers together." We then cut to me in Shade's blacksmith hall trying to make a new Scythe since the original was destroyed but I got a visit from the Headmaster.

Aidan: "Professor Quartz? What's up?"

Jade: "Please drop the formalities, I'm off duty right now."

Aidan: "Of course... Jade. What did you need?"

Jade: "I actually wanted to tell you something I never did tell back at the infirmary, when we scanned your body... a strange quantity of temporal energy was coming from your body."

Aidan: "Temporal energy?"

Jade: "Temporal means time. As in like the time stream and time travel. After hearing what happened in your fight I think it may have come from that beam."

Aidan: "But that doesn't make any sense... power like that could only come from a Semblance or Dust and since it's a robot he can't use a Semblance and I've studied all kinds of Dust and there's no such thing as a type of Dust that uses time powers."

Jade: "This is a scientist we're talking about. Perhaps he made a device where he could make his own Dust."

Aidan: "Maybe but that's just a hunch right now... nothing concrete." I then proceed to start using the grind wheel on the blade.

Jade: "One more thing. I talked to James Ironwood about the robot you fought and he said he would come over the day after tomorrow to speak with you about a method he thinks might be able to help you stop him. He wishes to speak with your whole team when he arrives."

Aidan: "Ok, hopefully whatever it is... it'll work."


	3. Events of Grimm Eclipse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

Today is when our ship is scheduled to leave for Patch, last night after I remade my Scythe I spent the rest of the night before bed working on my concentration to manifest my soul, just like before it was easy so now I have my Aura back, but my Semblance is a different story, luckily I'm strong enough to handle my weapons weight carrying the the Scythe and Broadsword on my back, the Twin Blades are sheathed on my back too, and my Dual Guns are sheathed on my sides under my coat until I get my powers back. We're all heading for the ship until I see something that always pisses me off: bullying! A Faunus girl who ended up having both cat ears and a tail wearing purple armor with black shoulder pads, long black hair and glasses, was being pushed around by a muscular guy who is also a Faunus with a lions tail wearing a blade attachment in a blue long sleeved hoodie, jeans, and really short black hair. I hate people who look down on others! So with that I decided to do something.

Aidan: "Hold up a sec guys." I pointed behind me with my thumb to show them what I meant, they nodded knowing we have time so I walk towards them and he raises up his tail like he's gonna strike but I grab it and he turns his head. "Don't even think about it!" He jumps back away from the girl when I let go and gives me a mad look that also looks like he's trying to recognize me as I step in front of the girl... and then he creepily smiles.

Bully: "Ha! As I live and breath... the Turnabout Terror! Heh heh! The student Huntsmen as entered the fray." I just look confused and turn back to the girl with a face that says 'who the heck is this guy?' And she answers knowing what it meant.

Girl: "I don't know, this guys crazy!" To which I just look back at him with my usual angry look I give an enemy.

Aidan: "Look buddy, I'm not sure who you are... but you need to leave this girl alone!" But he chuckles like he doesn't give a shit at all.

Devon: "Why friend my name is Devon, leader of Team DARC... and I'm afraid that's not possible... I have a reputation to uphold for bullying all those weaker than I... sooo... that is what I must do. One does upset the man of Beacon."

Girl: "Man of Beacon?"

Aidan: "Cardin Winchester... you two must have met at the Vytal Festival!"

Girl: "Um... who?" Now he didn't have a real weapon on him aside from his tail knife but I didn't want to waste too much energy drawing my weapons, luckily I'm trained in hand to hand combat too just incase.

Devon: "Hmph! I think we've had enough talk now don't you?" He gets in a battle stance like Marvel vs Capcom's Zero with his tail tip hovering over his shoulder.

Aidan: "You took the words right out of-" he leaps forward first and I block to which I respond with a charged punch, "Bionic... ARM!" He goes flying until his back hits a jet and when he gets down he gets his footing back and comes at me and he does a barrage of attacks with fist and feet equally with a few tail strikes and I took a few hits but I made sure to avoid most of them, especially his tail, and after one block I start my own barrage of martial artist skills. "King Hammer!" "Palm Blast!" That last hit finished his Aura and knocked him back a bit and that was his ending point.

Devon: "Argh! Damn you! I'll admit your good! But let's see how you fair in a real fight! You! Me! Day after tomorrow! The sparring hall!"

Aidan: "Your on! I'll show you what you get for terrorizing others!" And then he just runs off and once he's gone I look back to the girl. *huff, huff* "Hey... you ok?" I help her up.

Girl: "Yes... I'm fine. Thank you." 'I don't believe this... is this really the legendary Turnabout Terror everyone's talking about? If that's so then that means I was just saved by the most popular student and I'm merely just a newbie first year student this upcoming semester!'

Aidan: 'She seems a little flabbergasted, maybe it's either from the bullying or maybe she's just concerned that me of all people saved her. I don't think I've ever seen this girl before.' "What's your name?"

Angel: "Oh sorry, my name is Angel Neko. I'm going to be a first year student hear at Shade this upcoming semester. I hear your quite the legend even though this upcoming semester is only your second year. And not to be rude but I don't really know your name... I've only heard your nickname."

Aidan: "Names Aidan Verde, leader of Team ATMC."

Angel: "Wow... your a team leader too... I'm not sure if I'm qualified for that position when I get a team."

Aidan: "I disagree... I saw the way you were being pushed around... but I also saw that you were keeping a brave face the whole time... you knew you were in trouble but you were brave enough to stand your ground. It's takes a lot of courage to face your greatest troubles like that... and looking at your eyes now... I see the passionate spirit of a leader... so I think... your gonna make a great leader come your first year." And right there I can see her blushing.

Angel: "T-Thank you... I..." But I have to get going because I've enough time already.

Aidan: "Hey I'm sorry to bail but my team and I have a mission today... I'll be back later today. See ya later?"

Angel: "O-Of course!" I can tell she's still flabbergasted, but this time it's from the embarrassment of being complimented by a legend.

Aidan: "C'mon guys, next off... Patch!" We take off and are on our way but Chris has always been one of 'those' type of people.

Chris: "So... whose the girl you saved! She your new 'girlfriend'"

Aidan: "Chris... shut it... ok, I don't wanna hear it..."

Chris: "And here I thought you had for Ru-"

Makayla: "Chris! Shut it! Our 'leader' has spoken and he doesn't wanna go through this."

Chris: "Oh c'mon! Your usually on my side with this kind of thing!"

Tyler: "Is this a common thing because if it is I think she's not on your side this time because he's already been though enough stress with that robot fight, losing his Aura and Semblance, having to deal with school bullying, and now that bully challenged him to a real fight day after tomorrow... she's just trying to stop you from stressing him out even more than he's already been through. Soooo... I'm with her. Zip it!" He says flattening his wolf ears in anger.

Chris: "Oh c'mon! Not even a little fun-"

Aidan: "CHRIS! ZIP IT! RIGHT NOW!" My eyes a burning red. I've been angry at him like this before but my eyes have never glowed a different color other than my natural green before, I thought that was just Yang's thing. But regardless my eyes glowing left them all completely in shock. "Um guys, why're you staring? What's up?"

Makayla: "Um, Aidan... did your eyes always... glow red... when your mad?"

Aidan: "Huh?" And I pull up my Scroll to look at the screen like a mirror and see what they saw. "What the-?" Shut my eyes for a few seconds and open them up again and I see their back to green. "Huh, that's weird. That's... never happened before. What the heck is happening. I think I need some time to my self. I'll be in the cargo hold." And no this is not a cargo ship, it's a Bullhead ship, a ship made for Huntsmen Academy's to transport students but much like a cargo ship it has a cargo hold for carrying extra gear and Dust. I must not have realized how long I was in there because I ended up falling asleep and we had gotten there while I was 'cause eventually I hear a knock.

Tyler: "Hey Aidan! We're here!" I open the door and he see's I've been asleep from the messy hair.

Aidan: *yawn* "Thanks for the wake up call Tyler. I feel much better after that, I guess I just needed some more sleep after getting my Aura back."

Tyler: "Yeah but what about this?" He shows me the mess my hair is with his Scroll.

Aidan: "Eh. Nothing a little slick back won't fix." I lick my hand and pull it back which fixed the frizzles and straightened it again. We leave the ship, walk up to the house, knock and Tai comes out.

Tai: "Oh, hey guys. Team ATMC right? What brings you here?"

Aidan: "Is Yang home? We have some questions regarding a case Team RWBY was involved in."

Tai: "Uh yeah and she finally warmed up to the arm by the way. Yang! Your friends are here to talk with you about something!" And she comes down the stairs and unlike last time we were here when she was wearing Tai's jacket without her arm, she is no longer wearing the jacket and has the arm on.

Yang: "Hey guys, what's up?"

Chris: "We have questions about a mission you and Team JNPR took on. We're kinda wrapped up in it ourselves."

Yang: "Ok, which mission?"

Aidan: "We need info on the scientist you stopped, Dr. Merlot."

Yang: "Dr. Merlot? But he blew up his own island to try and kill us and he ended up killing himself."

Aidan: "Who said it's him directly? It could just be someone using his technology. I ran into a robot with this symbol on its chest yesterday." I hand her the M symbol drawing.

Yang: "Yeah, that's Merlot's symbol."

Makayla: "To make it worse it hit Aidan with a strange beam that turned back his Aura and Semblance. He's got his Aura back but the Semblance will take a while."

Tyler: "Professor Quartz found temporal energy on him when they scanned him, we think that might have something to do with it."

Yang: "What energy?"

Makayla: "Temporal, it means time."

Aidan: "Except it's a robot so it can't use a Semblance and there's no such thing as a Dust type that can use time powers."

Yang: "I would say Merlot made his own Dust but his thing was mutating Grimm. Apparently his experiments were Mt. Glenn's downfall, and after that he hid on an island to continue his experiments and rebuild his facility, and eventually, during Team RWBY and JNPR's first year, he sent his scientist out to Remnant to gather Grimm for his goals. He found Grimm to be the perfect specimen for his tests, especially for his biggest discovery: some sort of strange ooze that can mutate stuff and he used it on Grimm to make them stronger and more controllable. But we infiltrated his building, destroyed his serum supply, killed his one of a kind specimen, a mutant Deathstalker, and he ended up blowing up the island thus killing himself."

Tyler: "Well then someone else must've found remains of his technology on the island and starting using it for themselves, the question is who?"

Yang: "Your best bet is to investigate the island itself, but I don't remember where it was, we were accidental stowaways on Merlot's cargo ship in a dark crate. But maybe if you can find Dr. Oobleck he might be able to help."

Tai: "I can go look for him. We're basically in the same business right now, I can find him and ask for help."

Aidan: "It may take a while for him to get those coordinates even with as fast as he is so any results he finds you'll have to send to Shade by mail, we need to get back there by today for more preparations, besides we have a meeting with someone from Atlas tomorrow anyway."

Tai: "Right."

Chris: "Well I guess we must be going."

Tyler: "It was nice seeing you again Yang."

Yang: "Likewise." We walk outside and board the ship.

Makayla: "Looks like the ship is ready for take off."

Aidan: "Good. Yang gave us some good info but it's still not enough yet, hopefully Dr. Oobleck can find the island with Beacon's CCT down." The ship takes off and it's pretty much just quiet the whole time. Regardless none of this still explains who's using Merlot's tech or how that time power was used, and then there's that black robot! Just what the heck is it? How can we beat something so fast and strong? I just hope Ironwood can help with that situation.


	4. The Spirit Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

The next day at Shade and we were to meet with general Ironwood but while on the way to the launch bay to board his ship we see posters made by that Devon character from yesterday getting people to come and watch our fight tomorrow. 'the Fiery Lion VS the Turnabout Terror showdown! Sparring hall tomorrow.' Great! So now we're going to have an audience! Oh well, let's just go on about our business. We make it to Ironwood's ship and meet him in his quarters.

James: "There you are. James Ironwood, pleased to meet you." Greeted by a man in a white coat, white pants, white gloves, black dress shirt, red tie, a silver bandage on his head and his facial hair makes it seem like he hasn't slept much since the fall of Beacon.

Aidan: "Were Team ATMC, I'm Aidan Verde and these are my teammates Tyler Jasper, Makayla Verde and Chris Kaen. We originally attended Beacon but came here after its fall."

James: "I see."

Aidan: "Now then. You said you had a way to help with the situation of that robot?"

James: "Come." We left his quarters and headed for the ships lab. "After hearing from Jade about Merlot I got ahold of Ozpin's old files from Atlas' CCT records transferred from Vale's, looks like Ozpin put in the info from RWBY and JNPR's involvement, including the island location so I sent a search team through the remains of Merlot's destroyed facility and found a few records. Looks like his more common robots were a red one with a double bladed staff and a white one with grenades and a gatling gun, those two were the only ones he used in the mutant Grimm incident, but he did keep plans for more enhanced robots in the future once they were tested, what did the one you fight look like?"

Aidan: "It was black with some parts glowing red, and it used dual daggers much in the same way I do."

James: "According to these files that particular model is known as 'Crimson Blade' which was meant to be the general of Merlot's robot army incase he gets too busy. A machine like that can be destroyed normally but it has some sort of enhancer for its abilities, in fact it can enhance itself so much that it can transform into a super form called the 'Winged Crimson Demon' which one won't be able to defeat so easily, so we invented these." He present a tray of high tech bracelets. "For the past few years Atlas scientists have been studying Aura from a more scientific perspective: how it works, what it's made of, and after hearing of this enhancer we thought we could make something to enhance something of our own, but for these bracelets particular power we had to study something else from a scientific perspective: the Schnee family Semblance. Specifically their ability to summon. Winter Schnee of our own military was more than willing to allow this on her own powers, with this we have made it so that these bracelets can link to your Aura when wearing them and what they do is that they switch out your Aura's ability to gradually heal your wounds for the ability to summon a special power, your Aura can still deflect harm but it won't heal you while the power is active. We call this power: the Spirit Guardian. Aidan, mind if we borrow your arm for a minute? It won't take long."

Aidan: "Um... ok, what do you need it for?" I ask while detaching it and giving it to him.

James: "I figured someone like you might want to keep this power on you at all times so we're going to build the bracelets abilities and mechanisms into your arms wrist." He gives it to a scientist in the room and he starts working. "While that's going I have something else to tell you about Merlot's files."

Tyler: "What's that?"

James: "We've looked through every one of these files for his robot army but none of them say anything about having anything in the wrist, especially not time powers, so Crimson Blade should not even have any powers in his wrist in the first place."

Makayla: "Then that could only mean that who ever is using his tech again altered the original plans. But the question is why? Or the better question is who is the one behind this anyway?"

James: "There was nothing in the files that can tell us who could be using Merlot's stuff but we did find more machine plans than just the robots, but only one is how we have time powers involved." Pulling up the blueprint of this device on the screen. "It's a device capable of taking any type of Dust, wind for example, and replacing its element with something else entirely, even powers that there are no such Dust for, and since we have temporal energy coming from a robot, the enemy has created their own Time Dust!"

Aidan: "And that there starts the next question: just what are it's abilities? Crimson Blades wrist glowed 4 colors before shooting and it fired one specific color, so each color must do something different. I was hit with orange which made it seem like I never learned to engage my Aura or have unlocked my Semblance. Maybe orange is the ability to turn time backward, which leaves what green, blue, and red do?"

James: "Whatever they do I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." Then the scientist from earlier hands back my arm to Ironwood. "Hm. Looks like it's done. Here." And he gives it back.

Aidan: "Well that was quick."

James: "We made 7 of these bracelets so my men are more than familiar with how to make them quickly. Makayla, Chris, Tyler, here you three might need their power." They all take a bracelet leaving 4 left on the tray. "Now then, as for how this works, the device requires two things to summon your Spirit Guardian: first, you'll need to give your guardian a name and input into the bracelet, to which it will become voice activated to calling out your guardians given name. Second: voice is not all that is needed, you all must concentrate on keeping your soul calm and strong in order to work. As for what your Spirit Guardian will look like, that is completely dependent on you, you must use your imagination to design your Spirit Guardian, the device will then scan your memory for the finished results and connect it with your Aura. Your Spirit Guardians powers and abilities you must create with your imagination too, but they must be simple and limited! Creating abilities too powerful can zap too much of your Aura's energy which can result in forced suppression of your guardian. And one last thing, since this is your soul we're taking about your Spirit Guardian are influenced by your emotions which means you must make sure to keep your emotions in check and keep a calm mind, otherwise your guardian can escape your control and move completely on its own and go berserk. Did all of you get that?" We all salute and nod yes. "Good. Now get some rest. Professor Quartz is scheduling you a ship to leave for Merlot's island in 2 days. That should give you enough time to prepare and train for the mission."

Chris: "Alright! We won't let you or Quartz or anyone in Shade down!"

James: "Excellent... you are dismissed." And while were walking out I start inputing a name for my guardian and already thinking a design and powers for it. With this I may be able to crush that dreaded machine! I'm coming for you Crimson Blade!


	5. The Terror of Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

We had been practicing almost all day yesterday after talking with Ironwood but I'm the only one who hasn't summoned their guardian, it would seem I have too much on my mind to concentrate, Cinder Fall, Crimson Blade, Dr. Merlot, Devon Akuma, and that figure back at the village that looked like Masters, but for some reason... I can't seem to get that Faunus girl off my mind... it's like she's got some kind of hold on me. However I couldn't let that distract me from today, I've been training a lot today before my fight but now it's time... the sparring hall is like a coliseum where the opponents come in from entrances on either side of the arena, and the audience seats, which are filled with people including the remaining 3 members of my team and his team, are up high and behind a transparent barrier so there's no casualties. This is going to be a tough fight using sheaths instead of my Semblance but I've learned to be efficient with it, eventually a professor talks through the intercom to call us out.

Shade Professor: "Hello students! It would seem we have a challenge between two ruthless fighters! In the right corner we have the most troublesome bully of Shade! The roughest Faunus of the school! Give it up for... Devon Akuma the Fiery Lion! And in the left corner we have the legendary student with many names! Shades green fire! The student Huntsmen! Grimm's worst nightmare! But only one name is the one he is most known for! It's the one! The only! Aidan Verde the Turnabout Terror!" Both of us get equal cheers from the crowd, and I can see the girl that started this up there. "Alright now! Let the match begin!" He draws his weapon which seems to be a bayoneted double barrel shotgun in his right hand and a sai in his other, and his tail makes 3 blades, but what's weird is that the rifle and dagger is the exact same fighting method as Masters, why is he using the same method? I didn't see any lion tailed Faunus in Signal. I draw my Twin Blades and my right blade clashes with his bayonet and when we break he starts using bayonet arts...

Devon: "Thorn Shot! Thunder Spark!" But again, that should be impossible! The only person who uses bayonet arts like that is Masters, he taught me the arts I have for my weapons but for some reason he only taught me these arts. Why did he only teach me? But he did teach me something else using these arts in the chance I end up fighting someone who uses these arts: the counterattack! "Tempest Blast!" But I activate an art of mine immediately after he activated his so that I could hit him before he hits me.

Aidan: *Han Geki!* "Ghost Falcon!" He fell down like a dummy but got back up and went for some strikes with all three blades but I switch to the Broadsword and block and then I step back and switch to the Dual Guns and go for a barrage of shots but he used a another art real quickly.

Devon: "Dust Bullet!" Which where he shoots up into the air and it rains down on me and he followed it up with another. "Thunder Spark!" Which knocked me back and I was on all fours. "Heh! Was that it?"

Aidan: 'Dammit! I can't let his reputation go on! If I lose here... then I... I won't be able to protect anyone! Not Chris... not Makayla... not Tyler... not Angel!' I then get back up and my eyes are glowing red like they were before.

Devon: "Back for more huh?!"

Aidan: "You! I swear... I am going to kill you with my own hands! And Cinder! And Crimson Blade!" And all of a sudden I hear a strange noise... the same bell like sound that Crimson Blade made when he appeared but this time I see a strange figure of the... the design I gave my Spirit Guardian.

SG: 'I have found you!' It's speaking to me telepathically and then it just looms over me.

Aidan: 'Come to me!' Devon's just standing there with a battle stance waiting for me. "Come on... Come on!... Come on!" The screens above the audience start showing random groups of people but then it gets all glitchy and when it clears up its shows... him! "Masters!" And he just confidently smiles. "It's here... It's here! It's here! It's heeeeerrre!" And then my Aura just flashes. "Skeeeeiiiith!" As for its appearance: it's a green armored creature with horns and has that spiky tail thing hanging from its neck area much like my ninja armor I wore at Beacon, along with a light green hologram of a cloth like object behind its legs like a butt cape and how it works is that any movement I do it does the same, example: if I move my hand up it does the exact same movement, it also gives me the ability of flight when summoned now it can only use one weapon: a Scythe, so I can only really use my own Scythe when using the guardian, it can shoot energy bullets from its hands and charge up a chakram with the Scythe. I look down and see he is confused and shocked.

Devon: "Hey! What are you doing?! What is that?!" So he can see it, I guess that kinda makes sense but then I summon the Scythe and ready my self, though I feel that the power is going to my head so I don't pay attention to Tyler trying to stop me.

Tyler: *slam fist on audience edge* "Stop right now! Aidan!"

Aidan: "Say goodbye!" I just charge towards him and am ready to strike... but then...

Angel: "No don't!" She's tries to stop me and I almost listened this time but it was too late... I was a split second away from striking when she screamed and when I struck I de-spawned leaving me on the ground in a pose that looks I stopped after dashing forward for a strike and I'm holding my Scythe behind me with one hand and Devon is now behind me just standing there and eventually he collapses once the crowd starts mumbling I turn to him and put my Scythe away and they starts asking questions.

Crowd: "What was that monster?!" "Look at Devon's Aura, instant depletion?!" And then it starts going to praise. "Wow! I didn't think he was that good!" "He's the second coming... of Ozpin!" Hearing that just instantly brought back bad memories of Beacon's fall. While on my way out I get a call on my Scroll from Quartz.

Aidan: "Yellow?"

Jade: "Aidan, I came back to the infirmary to take a look at the temporal energy found on you and just all of a sudden the scanners say your Semblance is now active again."

Aidan: "Oh really?" 'The Spirit Guardians summon must've quickened when the effects where off. At least now I don't have to wear these... ugh... uncomfortable sheath straps anymore!'

Jade: "That's all I wanted to say. I haven't found anything about the energy though."

Aidan: 'Ironwood must not have told her about the Time Dust. Probably doesn't want the other Headmasters to involve the dangers of the Dust abilities. Time powers in a Huntsmen academy must only be in a Semblance.' "Thanks for the tip. I better get going." I hang up and walk outside and I'm greeted by Ironwood and Tyler, but they look mad. Wonder what's up? "Hey guys. How was that? Did you see? That's right! I finally got my Spirit Guardian!"

Tyler: "You... you idiot!" Woah! What's that all about?!

James: "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to use a power like that against a human student?!" Well, he's a Faunus, but whatever 

Aidan: "Hey! You know what he's done just as well as I do! It's his own fault... he deserved what he got!"

Tyler: "He deserved it?! It's his own fault?! Come on! Do you honestly believe that?!"

James: "One wrong move out there and he could've easily ended up in a coma from the shock or even killed!" To that I just shrug my shoulders 'I don't know' like a smartass.

Tyler: "What is wrong with you?!... Wait... don't tell your-"

Aidan: "Ah shut up already. He woke up from the attack right? So everything's fine."

James: "That's not the point!" But then Quartz cuts in.

Jade: "Give it up James."

James: "Jade?!"

Jade: "As far as he's concerned... a Spirit Guardian is nothing more than a useful tool."

Aidan: "Oh? What else do you call it?"

James: "Listen to me Aidan! These things are a power that defies the original Huntsmen system! If they massively get out there will be chaos in both the Huntsmen Academy's and the Huntsmen profession itself! That's why the Spirit Guardian should never be used at all... except against situations like Crimson Blade!"

Aidan: "Well... too bad I'm not a good little boy like you or Tyler here! I use whatever powers I have to their full extent... that is my way!"

Tyler: "Don't you get it?! What your saying... what your doing... it's the same nonsense as those terrorists spout!"

Aidan: "Thanks so much for the lecture, but I plan to use my guardian however I like... and whenever I like. A terrorist? If that's what you wanna call me then fine! But... I have no intention of changing how 'I' become a Huntsman!" I just walk pass them and don't even notice that Chris and Makayla were standing about a few feet from them to be within ear shot.

Tyler: "Aidan!" I heard him yell my name but I just continue walking and typically they talk about me when I'm out of ear shot.

Makayla: "I tried to warn you general."

James: "Huh?"

Makayla: "The moment I saw his eyes go red on the way to Patch and then saw those bracelets, I knew that in his current state, he isn't fit to have a power like that. So what are you gonna do about it?" Ironwood is just silent at that point.

Tyler: "I think I have an idea. It'll be a risky move but I'll make sure we're prepared for it."

Chris: "I just hope that whatever it is it'll bring the old Aidan back, the one that isn't a massive, power drunk jerk." The next day I enter the training simulator hall and the 3 of them are already standing there with a look on there face that just instantly tells me 'we've been waiting for you to come.'

Aidan: "You guys ready to train or what?"

Chris: "Aidan, what happened to you?"

Makayla: "You've been acting way different from usual ever since Crimson Blade reversed your powers. How come your so different from the Beacon days?"

Aidan: "Guys we don't have time for meaningless questions. We need to make sure we're ready for when we head for Merlot's island tomorrow." And at that point Tyler just snaps.

Tyler: *Grrr* "I will never accept what your doing Aidan! No! Not for as long as I breath! Your philosophy is wrong! You think everything is alright as long as you win?! Anything's allowed?! Don't you realize?! It's not worth attaining your goal of you ruin others! Especially your comrades, your teammates, your friends and family!"

Aidan: "Shut up! What are you, stupid?! Who will recognize you if you lose?!"

Tyler: "Your wrong Aidan! Winning isn't everything!"

Aidan: "Of course it is! I will make you three recognize... my power!" At that point all four of us draw our weapons, I draw the Scythe, and its me against my 3 teammates. It starts out with them trying to surround me but I'm spinning my Scythe around to cover the area and start spamming arts of different weapons. "Tiger Blitz!" A Broadsword art on Chris. "Wicked Strike!" A Scythe art on Makayla. "Sparrow Counter!" A Twin Blade art on Tyler but they all get back up quickly and Chris starts striking at me with his pinchers while Makayla and Tyler are shooting a distance away so I'm at the same time using my Broadsword to block Chris strikes and their gun fire but I then use the Twin Blades, "Whirlwind!" The final hit knocks him backwards to where he's next to Tyler and I come at them with the Dual Guns, "Justice!" And once I finish the art I use a bonus attack to deal extra damage, "Judgement!" Which is 3 gun shots and I use each shot for each person, one shot from the blue gun on Chris, the next shot from the green gun on Makayla, and the final shot bring a charged shot from both guns on Tyler which knocks him down but as he's falling he gets in a gunshot at me which knocks me down and when I get up their already on their feet and as I'm stumbling I start getting pissed. "Aw!... Damn it!... Why do all of you... keep getting in my way?! Move! Get out of my way!" At that point I can feel my Aura changing as I shut my eyes for a brief moment. "Or else... I'll eat you alive!" Which I open my eyes back open as I say that and my eyes start glowing red again and I summon the guardian. "Haaaaaaaah! Skeeeeeiiiiith!"

Tyler: "No! You fool! All right guys, all together!"

Chris: "Gorre!"

Makayla: "Macha!"

Tyler: "Come on! My... Magus!" All three of them summon their Spirit Guardians to face mine. Magus and Gorre rapidly fire energy bullets while Macha throws energy rings but I use Skeith's Scythe to the keep them off but then Gorre and Macha both come charging at me but I dash to the right and Magus was using Unforgiving Bud where he detaches the leafs from his tail and they become floating bombs but they're not to much to concern about they explode after some time but they're easy to get away from, the real issue is Gorre's ability, it has two parts, one red and one yellow, usually after charging forward it flips into the yellow side which has a count down of 5 slow seconds before it uses a strong attack but Macha distracts me with with Seducing Voice which has me on the ropes, I manage to avoid it but by the time it's over its too late to stop Gorre's countdown, he charges right at and hits me, after he hits me he grabs me and the red one comes up and rapid punch me and then charges up for a powerful uppercut that launches me up high. Macha then uses Bolt of Love to send in some floating laser shooting roses, I dodge the lasers and slash them with my Scythe to destroy them while dashing back down and once they're gone I shoot that them and Macha stuns so I go to her and slash at her followed by Magus using Flash of Green which stings a bit and Macha and Gorre both get next to him when he uses it, I counter Flash of Green by shooting down his leaf shield and then rapidly slash at all 3 of them since their all lined up.

Aidan: "Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on!" At that point my guardian stops and the next thing I know I'm on the ground while it's still up there and starts moving on its own continuing a Scythe massacre on all three of them. "What the?!" They eventually break free to scatter and try attacking Skeith from all sides but he's just too fast. "Stop it! No!" It just keeps going while they struggle to exploit any vulnerabilities. Eventually Magus gets a good distance and just sits there with his shield up while Macha and Gorre deal with him. "That's enough! I told you to stop it! Hey! Cut it out! Stop!" 'What's going on?! Why isn't it responding?!' "Alright! That's enough already! Now stop!"

Tyler: "But Aidan..." I look to see that Tyler is on the ground with me while he left Magus to just sit up there.

Aidan: "Tyler?! Are you alright?! I... I..." he just stood there with his back turned.

Tyler: "Is this... what you were aiming for?"

Aidan: "No! Please... I never meant too..." I didn't even know what to say at this point. "No! This isn't what was supposed to happen!"

Tyler: "You know if had listened to Ironwood you would have never ended up like this, and understood the fact that the Spirit Guardian can amplify the dark side of your soul. That is not something that can easily be overcome."

Aidan: "Then what-"

Chris: "Uh, Tyler! Could use some help buddy!" He and Makayla using their guardians still struggling with Skeith.

Tyler: "Let me just say this Aidan: you should always be prepared... to lose something that is precious to you." That just left me wondering what he meant.

Aidan: "Be prepared... to lose something?"

Tyler: "And be prepared... to protect something... something precious to you." At that point he goes back up to his guardian and Magus starts moving again and he takes down his own shield and starts glowing white, at that point Gorre and Macha get next to him and Skeith charges towards them.

Aidan: "Please... please stop it..." I knew it wouldn't respond anyway so I don't even know why I bothered. "Guys! Run! Run away!"

Tyler: "I guess... we were never really prepared for this kind of thing."

Aidan: "Please... just go!"

Makayla: "Sorry cuz..."

Chris: "But this was the only thing we could think of..." with that the three of them tried using a combined attack but it was too late, Skeith had gotten close enough to slash all three of them at once with a single slash.

Aidan: "Guys!" And with that Magus glowed orange, Gorre glowed light blue, and Macha glowed light purple for a brief moment and the glow made a shattering like illusion. 'Their Aura's shielding abilities must be down!' And that just stunned them in place while Skeith backed up a bit and a cannon like illusion formed on his right arm. "No! Please stop!" It charges up a shot, I repeatedly yell 'Stop!' But eventually he fired and the shot was big enough to hit all 3 of them and what it did is that upon its hit the shot explodes a massive blast, after it clears up Skeith's cannon disappears and then Skeith itself disappears after floating down towards me and after he disappears the other 3 guardians disappear leaving Tyler, Chris, and Makayla lying on the ground. "Guys? I..."

Tyler: "What? What's wrong Aidan? That expression isn't like you." Tyler sits up while Makayla stands up and Chris just stays asleep.

Aidan: "Huh?"

Makayla: "You gave your guardian the ability to clone, didn't you?"

Tyler: "Yep. My guardians a good boy, huh?"

Aidan: "Clone?"

Tyler: "Its my Spirit Guardian 'special power'. When used he has the power to duplicate all kinds of energy, which was that white glow on him. It's range is limited though."

Makayla: "So you used its power to make duplicates of our guardians to take the blast for us while we lie here on the ground after de-spawning our actual guardians."

Tyler: "Hey! Haha. That's exactly right. I knew you'd get it Makayla."

Makayla: "You idiot! Why did you have to make us fight him like that?! You could've gotten us all killed?!"

Tyler: "I know. Only idiots can think of idiotic ideas."

Makayla: "Why you little-"

Tyler: "Stop! That's quite enough lecturing. Anyway..." he stands up. "So, do you understand now Aidan? Winning isn't everything."

Aidan: "Yeah. I'm sorry for losing it. It's my fault I became a bad leader." And then Ironwood walks in.

James: "Looks like it worked. So you get it now?"

Aidan: "Yeah. You were right. I wasn't even able to control my own power."

James: "So long as you understand. All power like that comes with grave responsibility. It's no good anymore when the user becomes the used."

Aidan: "Yeah. C'mon guys, let's go rest up back at the dorm." And with that I'm back to my old self and understand my own powers now. We're one step closer to stoping the enemy here.


	6. Merlot's Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

It's the next day and we just get up, the others go on ahead to the training simulator hall but I end up sleeping in from yesterdays events, guess they didn't want to wake me to regain more energy. Eventually I wake up and after getting dressed someone knocks and upon answering I see Angel there.

Aidan: "Um... good morning." And it is still morning... like 8 and our ship leaves at 10.

Angel: "Nice to see you again."

Aidan: "Did you come to wish us luck on the mission?"

Angel: "Um... actually... I... um... I have a request..."

Aidan: "A request?" 'For some reason I'm not liking where this is going...'

Angel: "Um... would you... would you mind if I come with you?"

Aidan: "Huh? You wanna come with us? It's going to be dangerous you know."

Angel: "Yes I understand but I'll be fine, really. After all I'm ready for my first year here at Shade. I wanna see first hand what it's like on a official mission. Please let me come along, I promise I won't get in the way."

Aidan: '*sigh* Well since she insist I better bring her along... besides I guess it's her choice entirely on what she wants to do. Wait, it's not even really my choice to let her come. It Jade's and Ironwood's.' "All right you have my consent but it's not really up to me... I'm afraid that decision is up to Headmaster Quartz and general Ironwood." And that's when Jade appear.

Jade: "I certainly have no problem with her going, but I can guarantee that James will have issues with it."

Aidan: "I figured he would disagree with it."

Jade: "Don't worry I'll talk to him before you take off so you two just head to the training simulator for now."

Aidan: "Right, thanks Professor Quartz." She walks away and I look down to see we got a letter from Dr. Oobleck telling us he found the islands location but Ironwood beat him to it but I won't bother sending him a letter back to tell him that. We then hurry to the training simulator, which took about a 15 minute walk, and meet with the others. "Hey guys, looks who's here with us."

Tyler: "Oh hey! Your the girl from the other day, aren't you?"

Angel: "Yes... my name is Angel Neko and I wish you come along with you on your mission."

Makayla: "Really? Aren't you about to start your first year? You haven't even gone through initiation yet."

Chris: "I don't see anything wrong it. She made it to Shade and is considered a student here until initiation is over, and as long as she can fight that's all we need to know."

Aidan: "Well it's not up to us... it's up to Quartz and Ironwood. We already have Quartz' approval, but according to her Ironwood will be the real issue, however she said she would talk to him about it."

Tyler: "Then I guess all we can do is wait till we take off." Then he unexpectedly comes in.

James: "There's no need to wait for take off to meet with me. Professor Quartz just spoke with me about Angel, and she's convinced me to let her go, I agree on one thing, it is her choice on her own destiny. Angel, come here a second."

Angel: "Yes? What is it?"

James: "Here, you'll need this." He gives her a Guardian Bracelet.

Angel: "A bracelet?"

James: "The island contains a very powerful enemy with essentially a super form and our traditional ways of fighting won't help much against it so this bracelet gives its user a special power to fight it. Aidan, I want you and your team to help her master this power before we take off, we can't risk her not having this power while there."

Aidan: "Understood, we'll help her out." He then leaves and we cut to the enemy again.

? 1: "Brother, I just got a call from our informant, Team ATMC of Vacuo's Shade Academy will be coming here to the island to confront us and that they know about our Time Dust."

? 2: "Well that certainly doesn't help our plans! What are we gonna do?"

? 1: "Simple: we stay the coarse and let Crimson Blade deal with them when they get here. We will have to reschedule our plans to today though in order to get what we want." We cut back to Shades launch pads and meet Ironwood at the ship but he won't be coming with us. We managed to get Angel to ready her Spirit Guardian real quick before we left and we climb aboard but I stop real quick to talk to Ironwood.

Aidan: "You sure you won't come with us? We could use all the help we could get."

James: "Sorry but I need to get back to Atlas today and all the Huntsmen here at Shade are rather busy. I wish I could come but I have important duties to attend to in Atlas, including a few meetings with Jacques Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company."

Aidan: "Alright. Oh, and if you see Weiss while there, tell her that her old comrades Team ATMC said hi and are fine here at Shade."

James: "Will do." I board, the ship takes off and Ironwood boards his own ship to head back home. Once he leaves we cut to Devon in the launch area walking from behind one of the other ships.

Devon: "Alright their gone."

?: "I hope they manage to stop the Merlot Twins. They can be rather troublesome for being graduate Huntsmen as well as scientists."

Devon: "Let's forget that for now. Did you get them?"

?: "Yes, I managed to snatch the remaining 3 Guardian Bracelets from Ironwoods ship before he boarded." The mystery man proceeds to pull out two bracelets, with the hand he is wearing the third on, and gives one to Devon.

Devon: "You sure it's a good idea to do this?"

?: "Don't worry. Everything will go according to plan..." 'At least... I hope it does... for her sake!' "Anyway. Let's go somewhere more private so I may explain to you how these bracelets work. And as for the very last bracelet, I'll be giving this to my other acquaintance in Vale." We cut to our ship landing on Merlot's island and all we see in front of us when we exit is piles of rubble and scrap metal along with a giant crater in the ground.

Aidan: 'This must be the results of Merlot's little explosion.' And with that we're off to explore the island to see what we can find. But the question is: what exactly will happen when we find it?


	7. Crimson Blades End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

So this Merlot's island. Looks like Angel is interested in the ground right now, analyzing footprints.

Angel: "These footprints are quite a few months old..."

Aidan: "Probably Teams RWBY and JNPR's from Beacon, their the ones that stopped Merlot. Looks like they cut off at this metal platform over here."

Angel: "But I've also found 2 sets of footprints out of all of these that are the freshest ones."

Makayla: "Those have got to be our perps!"

Angel: "But again, they stop at the metal." Chris had already scouted ahead in that direction while we were talking and I think he found something.

Chris: "Hey guys! Get a load of this!" We all join him to see what he found. "Some kind of monorail, and it's rather new looking."

Makayla: "Judging by how the ground looks under the tracks then yeah it's new." Then it just opens and someone speaks over the speakers but they sound like their using a voice disguiser.

?: "Welcome... to Merlot's island! Now don't be shy, please come in. And please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times! Have a nice day!" The monorail starts moving and as we're moving we look out the windows and see fresh containers of the islands ooze and cages of mutant Grimm, specifically Creeps and Beowolves.

Tyler: "These must be what Merlot was working on."

Chris: "And now whoever this guy is their continuing his unfinished goal."

Angel: "Ugh! I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Makayla: "Looks like we also have hordes of robots waiting to be deployed!"

Aidan: "Are any of them Crimson Blade?!"

Makayla: "No, they're all the red and white robots that Merlot used the most."

Tyler: "Look! I think we're about to stop." We stop and upon exiting we enter a large room that's all empty with 2 doors on the walls left and right of the monorail entrance, and there's a long window on the front wall up high but there's something behind it blocking its view of what's inside. And then the speakers go off again.

?: "Looks like you made it! Welcome to our facility! Welcome... to your doom!" Then the window becomes clear and we see 2 men in lab coats with Merlot's symbol on the shoulders and one has brown hair, the other has black hair

Chris: "Oh great! A trap!"

Aidan: "And might I ask who you are?" The brown head goes first.

Sour: "But of coarse!" No voice disguiser this time. "I'm Sour Merlot and this is my brother Bitter Merlot, we're the Merlot Twins."

Bitter: "And you must be Team ATMC, but I was under the impression that it would just be the four of you and that teams were of four students, yet I count five. Who is the fifth you've brought with you 'Turnabout Terror!'"

Aidan: "Just a future Huntress with great potential."

Bitter: "But of coarse. Trust me young lady, being a Hunter is an exciting career. My brother and I would know because we are graduate Huntsmen ourselves from Atlas Academy."

Tyler: "Alright enough talk! What're you up to? Why did you create Time Dust? What was Crimson Blade for?"

Sour: "Perhaps we should let him do the talking!" He snaps his fingers and a bell like sound goes off.

Aidan: 'I know that sound! That's...' and speak of the devil that same red flaming orb from the village appears up in the air. "Crimson Blade!" Then it burst into flames and when it clears that same black robot appears floating down and then lands.

Angel: *gasp!*

Aidan: "What are you!" It just stays silent. "Grr! So what were you made for? To be a general? What are you? A time machine?!" Still silent. "Damn you! Say something already!" But then Makayla puts her hand on my shoulder and when I turn to her she nods yes and then I turn to Chris and Tyler on my other side where Tyler winks with a smile and Chris pumps his fist, and I confidently smile. "I won't let you! You won't get away again!" I then draw my Twin Blades. "I will avenge... all of your victims!" He then draws his own dual daggers and uses his right arm to strike the ground while his wrist is glowing all four colors and when he does we're all sent to this space looking place that are the same colors as the Time Dust glow and we're all floating. "Where... are we?"

Tyler: "If this is time we're talking about then this must be the time stream itself." Then Crimson Blade floats down and then his red parts glow brighter to where we can't see and when it tones down we see he's transformed into a taller version of himself with 4 arms, robo dragon wings and each hand holds a glowing red katana much like his daggers.

Chris: "Hey! That must be... the Winged Crimson Demon!"

Makayla: "Most likely, a transformation like that would certainly imply it."

Aidan: "I don't care what it is! Either way he's going down! And then I'll avenge them all! Every last one!" He then sends them back and leaves me here with him so I prepare myself for a fight. "Ready? Come on! Come on! Yes... I'm Right Here! Skeeeeeiiiiith!" I bring out the Scythe and charge towards him and we repeatedly clash each other's weapons and then we both start flying upward still clashing until one clash pushed us both backward a good distance. "Answer me Crimson Blade! Just what are the Merlot Twins up to?!" He didn't even answer, he charged up his blades and he charged right at me but I bring down my Scythe to stop him and we hold for a moment. "Grrr! If you won't tell me, I'll ask your core directly!" I break our hold and fly upward then start charging back down and pass by him with a Scythe slash and continue to do that a few more times from different directions but eventually I strike my Scythe downward and he blocked it so we had the same hold that we had earlier but this time he broke the hold and vanished in a green flash when his wrist glowed the four colors again and when I turn he was on the other side of me almost as if he teleported and he grabbed me and flew upward really high and charged back down hold me in front of him as if he's pushing me and then my back hits a block of energy and the energy explodes, when it clears he flys upward and when he stops he uses his upper left arm this time charging up a giant fireball ready to launch, he must have fire Dust in his left wrist. "Dammit! I can't move!" He then fires the fireball. "Is this... the end?" I flashback to the Beacon days and I realized that I can't give up here, so when the fireball hits it's makes a huge explosion and leaves behind a smoke cloud which I emerge from and charge straight for him and I pass him giving one last Scythe slash which leaves him stunned in place and once I stop I de-spawn the Scythe and activate Skeith's arm cannon and charge it up. "Haaaaaa! Take this!" I fire and when it hits him it explodes upon impact and when it clears and I de-spawn Skeith I end up back in that empty room with the others and take one last confident look at Crimson Blade who is back in his normal form but somethings different... he has pieces falling off which leaves me shocked for a second. "Wait no! First you have to tell us what the Merlot Twins are doing!" But then he explodes and his pieces are everywhere, his head lands next to my feet and when it lands the glow in his eyes get dimmer until they're not glowing anymore. "Grr! Damn it!"

Sour: "Uh oh!" We can't hear him though cause he's not using the microphone. "Brother! Crimson Blade has failed! What do we do?!"

Bitter: "Calm down! If he has failed then we will deal with it ourselves. You finish the machine preparations, I'll hold them with my Semblance." He hands the tools to his brother and approaches the window with an arrogant grin, what exactly is he doing?


	8. The Mirage of Deceit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

Bitter comes up to the window with an arrogant grin, what exactly is he doing?

Bitter: "I guess this is what we get for relying to much on our machines, but Crimson Blade isn't the only thing up our sleeves..." he put his left hands index and middle fingers on the side of his head to focus his powers and Angel starts acting strange.

Angel: "Aaah!"

ATMC: "Angel!" Her eyes starts glowing green.

Aidan: "What the?!" I instantly just look up at Bitter. "You! What did you do to Angel?!"

Bitter: "Hm... Just a little movie magic with my Semblance..."

Aidan: "Your Semblance?!"

Bitter: "Yes, one involving the mind... you see while some people have the ability to cast mental hallucinations or telekinesis, I have the ability to control your mind... it's only flaw is that I can only control one person at a time, and now I can turn your friend on you!" She draws her weapon which is just a regular double edge sword with the blade made from Fire Dust that she tinted a lighter shade of purple from her armor so that the flames come out purple. I draw my Broadsword and clash with her sword and we hold our stance.

Aidan: "Argh! Angel, c'mon! Snap out of it! Damn it!"

Bitter: "Hmm... what an interesting power in that small accessory."

Chris: "What are you going on about now?!"

Bitter: "My Semblance comes with a small bonus ability. I can read their mind while their in my control... but I can only read their mind while in my control because I'm basically in their head telling them what to do. So that little trinket can really display such a large power? Then how about we try it out?" Angels Aura, which is the same color as her sword blade, starts glowing.

Aidan: "No!" We break our hold and she starts floating.

Angel: "Innis!" She summons her Spirit Guardian, which she gave the power of illusions.

Bitter: "Amazing! And Ironwood is responsible for this? I never would have thought that Atlas could've done this to ones Aura. Truly fascinating."

Tyler: "Let her go!"

Bitter: "Oh, your still here?" He snaps his right hands fingers twice and the doors on the left and right walls open and tons of red and white robots come out and surround us. "I don't suppose any of you can do the same as your little friend here?" I just whisper my orders for what to do.

Aidan: "Ok guys here's the plan: Tyler. Chris. Makayla. You guys deal with these things but Makayla I want you to take any opportunity you can to teleport up there and stop his mind control. Chris. Tyler. You guys help her get that opportunity. I'll deal with Angel until Makayla can stop Bitter's Semblance." They all draw their weapons and get ready to fight.

Makayla: "We're ready to fight! What are you waiting for!" He waits in silence for a brief moment.

Bitter: "Kill them." Very calmly.

Aidan: "Keep them off me!" Innis has dual swords and she stabs one down in the ground when I dodge her strike. "Angel! Wait for me! I promise I'll save you!" My Aura then glows. "Alright... Come on! Come on! I'm Right Here! Skeeeeiiiiith!" The whole fight between us is just continuously clashing our weapons and shooting at each other because I can shoot from my hand and she has a ring floating behind her back that can fire energy shots. Meanwhile on the ground Chris, strength growing with each hit on him, Tyler, making many fire clones, and Makayla are destroying as many robots as possible but more just keep coming. Eventually Makayla finds the perfect opportunity to teleport up to the Merlot Twins.

Makayla: "Alright that's enough!"

Bitter: "Brother! Get rid of her!" He's too focused on his mind control.

Sour: "That's far enough!" He drew his weapon, one pair of nunchucks, and he clashed continuously with her spinning spear. Meanwhile outside I'm still guardian fighting Angel and she has this ability to become transparent and if she catches you she teleports next to you for a sneak attack called Haze of Treason but she's mainly been using a different ability called Confusion Flight where she goes in the rings and fly all over the place while spinning but after hitting her with my Scythe 3 times total while flying she stuns and I go for a full Scythe combo and chakram which left her stunned in place so I charge up my cannon and like everyone else it explodes upon impact which puts her out of focus on her guardian so it de-spawns and she's back on the ground so I de-spawn my own.

Bitter: "Hmph! I guess I'll have to make her fight normally." She draws her sword and I draw my Twin Blades and I keep blocking her swings until I mix and match my arts with different weapons.

Aidan: "Shell Breaker!" Broadsword. "Chaotic Strike!" Twin Blades. "Reapers Touch!" Scythe. "Judgement!" Dual Guns, some of my strikes miss because... 'Dammit! I almost forgot about her Semblance: she can phase through stuff like a ghost.' Cut to Makayla still struggling with Sour and his nunchucks can extend and on one strike they hold with his chain wrapped around the spear handle.

Makayla: "I guess this is what I get for facing a graduate!"

Sour: "I'll admit your pretty strong yourself!"

Makayla: "Oh, how sweet! But one tip: never let your guard down!" She pulls the chain to drag him towards her and she kicks him in the head to knock him out and knock him to the side so that she can get to Bitter. "Let Angel go!" Tackle him.

Bitter: "Argh!" He gets his hand off his head which stops the glow in Angels eyes, me and her were standing a distance away from each other when it happened and when it stopped she touched her head like she experienced a head ache.

Angel: "Oooh! My head!"

Aidan: "Looks like your back. Can you still fight?"

Angel: "Y-yes."

Aidan: "Then lets finish these things off and get the Merlot Twins!" Scythe art! "Heavenly Wheel!" And she handles them with a fire infused slash. We cut to Makayla handling Bitter whose weapon is a pistol bayoneted with a steel blade, both of the twins are equally as smart on machines but as for their weaponry, Sour's learnt the basics in nunchucks and modified the chain but Bitter has a way of using smaller weaponry and learning how to make something so small and gimmicky into something strong, so he knows how to make a bayoneted pistol useful against a long spear but what he didn't take into account is Makayla's own Semblance to teleport and after one strike she knocked him into his unconscious brother and he activates a mechanism that turns the floor he's standing on into an elevator which takes him, Sour and the machine Sour was working on down to another floor and the hole in the floor the elevator left closes up before she could get to them.

Makayla: "Hey! Get back here!"

Tyler: "Uh Makayla! You think you can shut these things off?!" She looks at the control panel under the window and it's just a whole bunch of confusing buttons and switches so she just jabs her spear into it which closed the doors, all that's left are the remaining robots in the room.

Angel: "These are all that's left!"

Chris: "I've got this! Aidan, Heavenly Quake!" I draw the Scythe and start 'Heavenly Wheel' which starts with an uppercut slash takes me up to the air and when I'm up there I hold the Scythe over my head and spin it but this time when I put it up Chris jumps up and stands on the Scythe while I'm spinning it and when I stop he jumps off to get higher up and I finish my Scythe art before he comes down so I bring the Scythe next to me and spin around which slash them on the ground from the energy slash, once my art is done I land, step back and bring out the Broadsword and hold it up to shield me.

Aidan: "Tyler! Behind me! Angel! Your Semblance!" Chris puts his weapon away and charges up all that energy he got from fighting into his fist and punches the ground which creates a massive shockwave that destroys them all and it all phases through Angel.

Chris: "Boom! Now that's clearance!"

Tyler: "C'mon we gotta get the twins!" I use my arm to grapple up to the window and kick through it and once I'm in I launch my grapple hand to the ground and the others climb up.

Makayla: "The Merlot Twins went down an elevator with some kind machine, right here." Tapping the floor with her spear where they went down, it kinda echos so you can tell it's still hollow from the elevator leaving.

Aidan: "Haaa!" Hyper punch the floor to reveal the elevator shaft. "Looks like the shaft is ramped, we can slide down!" 'We're coming for you Merlot Twins!'


	9. Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

We get to the bottom of the elevator shaft and land on the elevator itself too see them and their device in a dark lab.

Sour: "Oh for crying out loud!"

Bitter: "Relax! We're done anyway." Very confidently.

Aidan: "Done? Done with what?"

Bitter: "I was hoping to do this with Teams RWBY and JNPR but given the circumstances from the fall of Beacon that's not happening but this is definitely a close second, even if you had nothing to do with it..."

Angel: "With what?"

Sour: "Our fathers death!"

Bitter: "You see after the fall of Mt. Glenn my brother and I attended Atlas academy to become Huntsmen as well as scientist like our father taught us. After we graduated we went back to fathers island and were put in charge of cargo ships until one day Teams RWBY and JNPR came and destroyed his work!"

Sour: "They destroyed his one of a kind specimen and that was the final straw for him! He was forced by them to blow his facility sky high! That has led us to our plan!"

Bitter: "My brother and I were always interested in the advantages of time and were disappointed from our Dust research that there was no such Dust that could control time, so when our father taught us everything we needed to know on inventing technology we studied Dust from a scientific perspective and create our Dust alteration device and created our Time Dust."

Chris: "So the Dust device in the records was your doing?!"

Bitter: "Our fathers only interests was in the mutation of Grimm."

Sour: "And when we heard that he had died we decided to show him how useful our creation can really be. We decided to create a device to harness our Dust power and create a way to the past!"

Makayla: "Time travel?! Just to bring him back?!"

Bitter: "We understand that he died in that explosion so we decided to go back to the moment Teams RWBY and JNPR left the building before the explosion so that we may bring him here to the present and give Ozpin and his students the impression that he's dead. That way there's no alterations in the time stream aside from his escape from death."

Aidan: "You know revealing your plans like this is just embarrassing yourselves because now that you did you should know that we're not going to let you get away with this!"

Bitter: "That's why... we came prepared!" He snapped his fingers and a bunch more red and white robots come out.

Tyler: "Oh! Come on!"

Sour: "You see, we have an informant out there who told us you would be here and that you knew of our Time Dust but he never told us of any Spirit Guardians but that's just a minor setback."

Bitter: "Enough brother! I think we've wasted enough time." He activates the machine which opens a vortex that's all four of the Time Dust glow colors swirled up. "Looks like it works."

Aidan: "No!"

Sour: "Here's a little tip for when your in control of time:..."

Merlot Twins: "Control time... control everything!" Sour snaps his fingers for the robots to attack.

Aidan: "Justice!... Judgement!" I blow a path through them with my Dual Gun arts and get to the twins when they enter the portal and Angel follows me while Tyler, Chris and Makayla get stuck by more robots when the portal closes. Meanwhile in the time stream me, Angel and the twins are standing on an energy platform making a small scale arena.

Bitter: "Your certainly persistent 'Turnabout Terror!'"

Aidan: "Do villains like you usually call their opponents by their nickname?!"

Sour: "Nah! Just a habit of my brothers!"

Angel: "You guys are crazy! Bringing back the dead via time travel?!"

Bitter: "Your merely a student so here's a lesson: nothing is crazy as long as it's actually possible."

Aidan: "Then hows this for a possibility?! Us stopping you!" I start shooting a bullet barrage at Bitter while Angel and Sour go at it. "Gale Blade!" Twin Blade. "Tiger Blitz!" Broadsword. "Wicked Strike!" Scythe. "Judgement!" Dual Guns, that final shot did Bitter's Aura in, then Sour ended up next to Bitter again after Angel got his Aura.

Bitter: "I guess this is what I get for facing the all famous 'Turnabout Terror' in a fight! My choice of weaponry just couldn't stand up to a multi weapon user!"

Aidan: "You think I'm dumb or something? I know that when villains start praising their opponents their just trying to throw them off!"

Sour: "Oh no! The praise is for real! I mean really, we're graduate Huntsmen and your only, what? First year? Second year student?"

Aidan: "Uh? How about 'non of your business'!"

Bitter: "Your too late! We've made it to our destination!" A portal opens showing a metal room featuring an old man with in a similar lab coat as the twins with his sleeves rolled up and his right arm being a red and black bionic arm, what's with everyone getting their right arm cut off instead of their left, and he's talking into a camera. The old man looks over to the portal in confusion, he's also got his left eye glowing red, and Bitter walks up to it and puts his hand out. "Father! Grab my hand if wish to survive your little explosion!" We did hear him threaten to blow up the building when the portal opened so this must be right before the explosion itself.

Angel: "That's Merlot?!"

Merlot: "Time Dust... looks like your own research finally proved useful!" He grins evilly and grabs Bitter's hand... we can see the explosion a few seconds after Merlot gets through the portal and then the portal closes. "And who do we have here?" Still smiling evilly.

Aidan: "No!"

Sour: "This Aidan Verde the Turnabout Terror, leader of Team ATMC of Shade Academy!"

Bitter: "And girl is just a new student about to start her first year at Shade. Angel Neko? Was it?"

Angel: "Not good!"

Merlot: "A pleasure to meet you students. Allow me to introduce myself: I'm... Dr. Merlot!"


	10. Merlot's True End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

Me and Angel are in the time stream with the Merlot Twins and their father, Dr. Merlot himself.

Merlot: "Now then... boys? Would you mind taking care of these two and pointing me to the nearest exit leading to your present?"

Sour: "With pleasure father!"

Bitter: "Of course."

Aidan: "You bastards!" I switch my Dual Guns for the Twin Blades and attack both of them with a barrage of swings while Sour keeps swings his nunchucks to block and Bitter going fast enough to dodge my attacks, Angel joins in to handle Bitter with her fiery sword swings, good thing she's not fighting Sour this time because earlier when she was fighting Sour her fire power wasn't affecting him because his Semblance is full immunity to elemental attacks. I stuck with the Twin Blades against Sour because he moves to fast for the Broadsword and the Scythe is mainly good for area damage. "Whirlwind!" A six hit combo where the final hit has an energy blast upon impact and that blast knocked him out due to his Aura. Right there when he's out I look straight at Merlot. "What's the matter Merlot?! Are you too scared to fight yourself to rely completely on your sons to do all of the fighting?!"

Merlot: *sigh* "I guess it's as the old saying goes: you want something done right you've gotta do it yourself!" He draws the same weapon his red robots use and starts attacking with some spins but I break out the Broadsword to block and start attacking myself.

Aidan: "Bone Crusher!" The final knocked him down and he was tired already, must come from being old.

Merlot: *grr* "I can see how you got your nickname! But I won't be stopped here!"

Bitter: "Exactly!" Angel is knocked to my feet and her Aura is down. "I will personally make sure my father makes it out of the time stream safely."

Sour: "Ngh! Hey, don't forget about me! Haaaa!" He tries attacking me but I launch him off the platform we're on with a Broadsword uppercut and he falls into an open portal that led to the Grimm attack on Beacon, I could have sworn I saw some blood leave him before the portal closed.

Bitter: "BROTHER! Grr! And WE'RE the monsters here?!"

Merlot: "You just killed my son!"

Aidan: "Your supposed to be dead in our present time anyway! Your sons are just a bonus to that!"

Angel: "Aidan! Don't you think your going too far with this?!"

Aidan: "Don't stop me Angel! It's my duty as a Huntsman to protect the innocent! Even if it means killing the evil of this world! No matter what they are! Haaaaa!" I switch to the Scythe and go after Merlot but it also hits and knock out Bitter. "Lotus Flower!" Merlot just ends getting close to the edge and I land in front of him to grab him by his lab coat and lift him up. "Any last words Merlot?!"

Merlot: *chuckle* "Answer me a question: is Ozpin still around in your future?" I just stay silent for a moment.

Aidan: "No! He died in the fall of Beacon!"

Merlot: "I see... then instead... give my regards to Ironwood!" He smiles evilly and undoes my hand himself and he fell into a portal that led straight to the explosion of his island facility, he disappeared into the flames of the explosion when the portal closed.

Aidan: *sigh* "It is done. Now for one more problem. A certain 'bitter grape.'" And right there he gets up is really pissed off.

Bitter: "You've! Ruined! Everything!"

Aidan: "Morning sleeping beauty. Now then. I think it's time you sent us all back to the present, don't you?"

Bitter: "Never! I'd rather be stuck here than help the likes of you-!" I put the Scythe up to his face and he falls down.

Aidan: "How about we don't forget who still has their weapon, huh?" He tries to reach for his own weapon that he dropped when he passed out but Angel kicks it and it falls off the ledge. "You may be willing to stay here in the time stream... but are you willing to die?" Angel just gave me a angry look showing she doesn't appreciate death treats but she didn't say a word. He then proceeds to pull out his Scroll and puts in a command to open a portal that shows us the others now fighting mutant Grimm as well as robots.

Bitter: "Huh, I guess the Grimm pins opened up and they got out when the robots were being dispersed."

Aidan: "C'mon!" I grab Bitter and drag him out of the time stream with us and we rejoin the others who finished off the last few mutant Grimm and robots when the portal closed.

Tyler: "Hey! There you guys are!" De-spawning his fire clones.

Chris: "Looks like you managed to stop them."

Aidan: "Yep!" Then I just bring out the Broadsword and use it's chainsaw function to saw the time machine clean in half.

Makayla: "Wait... weren't there two of them? Where's the other one?"

Angel: "He fell into a portal in the time stream that led to a massive Grimm attack."

Aidan: "The fall of Beacon to be exact."

Chris: "So he's dead?"

Tyler: "It would appear so."

Makayla: "And what are we gonna do with him?!"

Aidan: "He's coming with us to Shade and we're gonna turn him in to the Atlas military units that are still there." He's just been staying silent this whole time. We get outside, call in the ship, get back to Shade, call in the Atlas soldiers here in Vacuo, and turn Bitter in.

Bitter: "You may have won this time 'Turnabout Terror!' But I swear I will have my revenge one day!" Then the authority's shut the doors on him and drove away.


	11. Epilogue: Next time on Team ATMC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own RWBY, all rights to RWBY go to Rooster Teeth in honor of its creator, Monty Oum

We're back at Shade in our dorm, Angel with us, knowing that Sour is dead, Bitter has been arrested, and Merlot himself never made it to our present time and met his actual death in the island explosion, but there is still more trouble from what the twins told us:

Sour: "You see, we have an informant out there who told us you would be here and that you knew of our Time Dust but he never told us of any Spirit Guardians but that's just a minor setback." Whoever that informant is he's most likely as dangerous as them but there is something bothering us, why didn't the informant tell them about the Spirit Guardians? There's no way he couldn't have known about them if he knew we were heading to the island and that we knew about the Dust. We have to find out who this informant is and see what else he knows, before he can hurt anyone else. Cut to Jade in her office in a video chat with Ironwood.

Jade: "According to Team ATMC's report one of the twins died in the time stream and you know what happened to the other from your Vacuo squads report, and Merlot himself never came back. A successful mission so far."

James: "So far?"

Jade: "We still have the issue of that informant the report mentioned. There's no telling what their like so we have to make sure to find them and get more info from them."

James: "I can't help but feel like I heard some Ozpin in that idea."

Jade: "You, me and Leo all know that he'll be back in a new form. We just don't know where in Remnant his next host will be, we just have to wait for him to come to one of us."

James: "I know. It just takes a while for him to come, and given how much Salem's Grimm have grown stronger lately it may take longer!"

Jade: "This is Ozpin we're talking about, the man who's been at war with Salem for centuries, he'll be fine. I feel like you never have faith in Ozpin and his plans."

James: "It's not that I don't trust or have faith in him, it's just that some of his plans can be a little... unorthodox... somewhat unprofessional."

Jade: "That's just because your to reliant on military tactics to protect the people instead of rethinking what the enemy might plan first. Please promise me you'll take Ozpin's ideals a lot more seriously this form, ok?" He's stays silent for a moment.

James: "Of course."

Jade: "Thank you. And now that I think about it, do you think this informant is the one who stole the remaining three Guardian Bracelets?"

James: "Possibly, but why steal all three of them?"

Jade: "Perhaps he has other associates besides the Merlot Twin's."

James: "Maybe. I'll do what I can about finding the bracelets. I'll speak with you later." The video chat ends and the screen shows a request to enter her office, meaning someone is right outside her door.

Jade: "Come in!" The door opens and a man in a dark red suit, white dress shirt underneath and a purple tie, black pants, and his suit has a cloth hanging down like a butt cape that goes down to his ankles, his hair is gray from his aging and a silver Chinese sun hat, finally he has a black backpack holding his weapon, a rifle that fires flare like rounds the same way as Roman Torchwick's cane, he bayoneted it with a light Dust blade, his left leg has a sheath for a dagger with a blade made from shadow Dust. "I certainly didn't expect to see you here... Masters von Shang."

Masters: "Well that's a way to greet an old friend. And by full name too? Jade Quartz?"

Jade: "Well sorry! So... what brings you to Vacuo? I thought you were helping with the preparations for the upcoming semester with the Beacon students at Signal?"

Masters: "Is catching up with an old friend and wanting to see his old student not a good enough reason? I'm on a leave of absence from Signal because of the fall of Beacon. I'm here to see how much stronger my greatest student has grown. I haven't seen him at all since he graduated Signal, I couldn't even make it to the coliseum to watch his tournament fight up close, I only had time to watch him on TV so I was stuck in Vale during the fall of Beacon."

Jade: "I can appreciate a great teacher such as yourself wanting to see how much his old student has grown and I can assure you Aidan's made quite a name for himself."

Masters: "'The Turnabout Terror.' He's all most of the students talk about. Especially the girls from what I can see."

Jade: "However... I'm afraid you've come at a bad time. He's had a rough time for a while now and is still tackling a big mystery that could very much be a large threat to the kingdoms of Remnant! Nothing as big as Salem but definitely a serious danger!"

Masters: "The sons of Merlot."

Jade: "Huh?"

Masters: "The Merlot Twins, Sour and Bitter. It would seem that Bitter has been arrested and Sour is nowhere to be found. It certainly seems like he's been busy lately."

Jade: "As always you know a lot of what's been going on and with the type of person you are I won't question how you know this. But I do have questions regarding these past few events."

Masters: "I shall answer depending on what those questions are."

Jade: "First of all: Aidan swears he saw you in a village before he passed out, he was fighting a black robot wielding dual daggers called-"

Masters: "Crimson Blade? Yes that was me who saved him in the village. Anything else?"

Jade: "Aidan also had a match with a bully named Devon Akuma and during the match he could have sworn he saw you on the screen above the audience when he was about to lose, but the strangest part was that the screen showed static before you shows up on it unlike how it actually transitions to the next shot."

Masters: "All computers glitch out every now and then."

Jade: "Once again, given the kind of person you are I won't press further... even if that wasn't an... unsatisfactory answer. But the biggest question is that the student he fought, Devon, he was using the same weapon style as you with a bayoneted rifle and the dagger and he was also using gun arts from your fighting style however... Aidan says he never saw lion tailed Faunus at Signal when he was there and your records show that you only taught Aidan your fighting style of weapon arts and Devon's records show he never attended Signal Academy for combat school. Your the only person who has this fighting style so I must ask, how did Devon learn your fighting style when Aidan was the only one you taught it too?"

Masters: "And like always you really know how to twist my arm with your resourcefulness. Your just like your grandfather, you know?"

Jade: *gasp* "How did you know about that?!"

Masters: "Heh. So much for not pressing me on things I seem to know, hmm?"

Jade: "But that information is something no one is supposed to know! Not even the other Headmasters!"

Masters: "And just like him, you just love to keep secrets from those who trust you the most. Your definitely his spitting image!"

Jade: "Stop it! Don't speak anymore of him!" He stays silent.

Masters: "Well... I supposed thats enough of this meeting. Would you mind telling me Team ATMC's dorm room number?"

Jade: "Room 201! Now leave! Now!"

Masters: "My my. I've never seen you so emotionally broken like this before. I supposed it's just a sign of growing up no matter what your age is. Wouldn't you agree?" He's says that while walking towards the door and then it closes once he's done. Jade is just crying in her desk then she takes out a photo out of her desk drawer.

Jade: "Oh grandfather! What should I do in a problem like this?" And then she puts the photo down on the desk and we see it's a picture of... Professor Ozpin?!


End file.
